Customer Experiences – unleash customer-led growth

Great customer experiences don’t happen by accident

Companies that consistently deliver great customer experiences are easy to name. The experience of flying with Virgin is memorably personal while the Amazon buying experience is memorably fast.

It is also easy to name companies that deliver bad customer experiences. The chances are, you’ve heard other people raving or cursing about their experiences even if yours have been fine. Before the advent of social media, annoyed customers told an average of ten friends. But now some customers are telling thousands about their great and bad experiences.

3 questions to ask yourself

What experiences do you want customers to get from you?

What experiences do your customers actually get?

How do you know?

Unleashing customer-led growth

The needs and expectations of customers are constantly changing. To remain competitive, organisations are having to become more customer centric. As they do, the process of researching and buying is becoming faster, more flexible and more convenient.

Sports organisations shouldn’t rush out and blindly apply best practices. But they must pay close attention to what their target customers now see as ‘normal’. What customers can do on amazon.com today, they will soon expect to do everywhere.

Improving customer experiences – where to start?

Great customer experiences

Customer understanding

At the core of great customer experiences is a strong understanding of your target customers. Who they are, what they are trying to do and why.

Design great experiences

Using this customer insight, create a simple picture of your current and desired customer experiences. What journeys do your customers go on, and how can they be improved?

Implement your desired experiences

Use your pictures to explain the customer’s needs to you staff, volunteers and partners. Help them to identify way to make great experiences more consistent.

Measure the actual experiences

Customer experiences are constantly evolving, fuelled by on-going customer feedback. The final step is to adopt a relevant measure of impact, such as the Net Promoter Score.